Summary: The goal of this wiki will be to briefly discuss the socialization Dolphins within their pods.
Just like humans, dolphins are naturally social creatures. A dolphin will spend a majority of its time and energy each day seeking out different relationships. Its standing in its society is determined by its interactions with other dolphins. As its group composition changes, its rank and social standing may change. In the wild dolphins live in what is termed a fission-fusion society, meaning their group composition is constantly changing with no one dolphin staying on top. The way in which these groups form and reform is influenced by a variety of factors including gender, age, familial relationships and reproductive status. Dolphins use sexual encounters (as many as 10 per day) as a means of affirming social relationships within their group.
Just like our kids juvenile males and female dolphins exhibit social play. This play, similar to adult conflicts, may be practiced in order to provide the skill to respond to others and to predict how others will respond to them when they are mature and off on their own. It is also through these repetitive playful and aggressive behaviors that the social hierarchy and order of dominance are established. Dolphins rarely inflict long-lasting physical damage on each other. This would be counter-productive as it would remove a member from their cooperative group.
Less aggressive behaviors such as gentle contact and contact swimming provide bonds between animals. Gentle contact between animals includes using the pectoral fin to pet or rub any body part of another dolphin. Contact swimming involves two dolphins synchronously swimming while one animal lays its pectoral fin on the flank of the other. This unchanging contact and synchronous swimming then continues over an extended period of time. Contact swimming is more often seen between females than between males. The prevalence of contact swimming between females may be part of a female’s nature to provide, as a new mother, assisted locomotion to its newborn where the new calf swims rather effortlessly in its mother’s slipstream.
Dolphins are social, living in pods of up to a dozen individuals similar to humans living in a big city. In places with a high abundance of food, pods can merge temporarily, forming a superpod; such groupings may exceed 1,000 dolphins. Individual dolphins communicate using a variety of clicks, whistle-like sounds and other vocalizations. Bottlenose dolphins are an extremely vocal mammalian species, but until now scientists believed whistles were the main sounds made by them. They were also largely unaware of the importance and use of burst-pulsed sounds. latest long-term study, which is based on recordings and behavioral observations from the surface and underwater off the coast of Sardinia, reveals how both sets of sounds are vital to the social life of these marine mammals. This vast range of sounds indicated a complex vocal repertoire in which the tonal whistle sounds - those which are most melodious - are used by dolphins, in particular mothers and their offspring, to stay in contact with each other and to coordinate hunting strategies.
Meanwhile, the burst-pulsed sounds, which are more complex and varied than the whistles, are used 'to avoid physical aggression in situations of high excitement, such as when they are competing for the same piece of food, for example.
Dolphins also display culture, something long believed to be unique to humans. Dolphins were seen teaching their young to use tools. They cover their snouts with sponges to protect them while foraging. This knowledge is mostly transferred by mothers to daughters, unlike simian primates, where knowledge is generally passed on to both sexes. Using sponges as mouth protection is a learned behavior.
Scientists reveal dolphins' diplomatic social behaviour Jun 28, 2010. (2010, June 28). Retrieved October 20, 2013, from http://phys.org/news196959293.html
Mountain, M. (Photographer). (2010). Are Dolphins Persons? [Image of photograph]. Retrieved November 4, 2013, from http://www.earthintransition.org
Wargo, D. (Photographer). (2013). Dolphin Ethograms Aggressive Inter Dolphin Behaviors Part 2. [Image of photograph]. Retrieved November 4, 2013, from http://www.swimwithdolphinsandmantas.com
Just like humans, dolphins are naturally social creatures. A dolphin will spend a majority of its time and energy each day seeking out different relationships. Its standing in its society is determined by its interactions with other dolphins. As its group composition changes, its rank and social standing may change. In the wild dolphins live in what is termed a fission-fusion society, meaning their group composition is constantly changing with no one dolphin staying on top. The way in which these groups form and reform is influenced by a variety of factors including gender, age, familial relationships and reproductive status. Dolphins use sexual encounters (as many as 10 per day) as a means of affirming social relationships within their group.
Just like our kids juvenile males and female dolphins exhibit social play. This play, similar to adult conflicts, may be practiced in order to provide the skill to respond to others and to predict how others will respond to them when they are mature and off on their own. It is also through these repetitive playful and aggressive behaviors that the social hierarchy and order of dominance are established. Dolphins rarely inflict long-lasting physical damage on each other. This would be counter-productive as it would remove a member from their cooperative group.
Less aggressive behaviors such as gentle contact and contact swimming provide bonds between animals. Gentle contact between animals includes using the pectoral fin to pet or rub any body part of another dolphin. Contact swimming involves two dolphins synchronously swimming while one animal lays its pectoral fin on the flank of the other. This unchanging contact and synchronous swimming then continues over an extended period of time. Contact swimming is more often seen between females than between males. The prevalence of contact swimming between females may be part of a female’s nature to provide, as a new mother, assisted locomotion to its newborn where the new calf swims rather effortlessly in its mother’s slipstream.
Dolphins are social, living in pods of up to a dozen individuals similar to humans living in a big city. In places with a high abundance of food, pods can merge temporarily, forming a superpod; such groupings may exceed 1,000 dolphins. Individual dolphins communicate using a variety of clicks, whistle-like sounds and other vocalizations. Bottlenose dolphins are an extremely vocal mammalian species, but until now scientists believed whistles were the main sounds made by them. They were also largely unaware of the importance and use of burst-pulsed sounds. latest long-term study, which is based on
Meanwhile, the burst-pulsed sounds, which are more complex and varied than the whistles, are used 'to avoid physical aggression in situations of high excitement, such as when they are competing for the same piece of food, for example.
Dolphins also display culture, something long believed to be unique to humans. Dolphins were seen teaching their young to use tools. They cover their snouts with sponges to protect them while foraging. This knowledge is mostly transferred by mothers to daughters, unlike simian primates, where knowledge is generally passed on to both sexes. Using sponges as mouth protection is a learned behavior.
-Shawn Owens
citation
Schaefer, L. (n.d.). SOCIALIZATION BEHAVIOR OF DOLPHINS. Retrieved October 28, 2013, from http://understanddolphins.tripod.com/dolphins.html
Scientists reveal dolphins' diplomatic social behaviour Jun 28, 2010. (2010, June 28). Retrieved October 20, 2013, from http://phys.org/news196959293.html
Image Citation
Schaefer, L. (Photographer). SOCIALIZATION BEHAVIOR OF DOLPHINS. [Image of photograph]. Retrieved November 4, 2013, from http://understanddolphins.tripod.com/dolphins.html
Mountain, M. (Photographer). (2010). Are Dolphins Persons? [Image of photograph]. Retrieved November 4, 2013, from http://www.earthintransition.org
Wargo, D. (Photographer). (2013). Dolphin Ethograms Aggressive Inter Dolphin Behaviors Part 2. [Image of photograph]. Retrieved November 4, 2013, from http://www.swimwithdolphinsandmantas.com